mary madeline serveed in three republican administrations -- reagan, george h.w. bush and george w. bush, and also a counselor to former vice president dick cheney. good to see you. mary, happy new year. >> happy new year to you. thanks for having me. >> well, you have been through this before, and you have seen the risks, the perils of second terms. looking at it from afar, from outside the beltway, what are the big challenges that you think president obama has to be concerned about? >> every term it has been exacerbating a lot of the president's weaknesses. if he wants to get along, if he wants to make some progress with republicans, he has to get be less self-righteous. that could be played earlier. he keeps presenting these false choices that it's either getting -- you're either political, you want an a from the nra or you want safe school, safe children. if you have an opposite view, an opposing view, you can't get to the table if the president is going to set you up as the demon in every case. he immediate to be less self-refr he shall. he needs to take more responsibility. on